


Spring Carnival

by turtlegirl5



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Confessions of love, F/F, School Carnival AU, clunky writing (sorry), excessive descriptions of hand holding, food tw, it's really bad at first but it gets better, really gay, they're not magical girls but they all know each other still
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 13:52:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10439097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtlegirl5/pseuds/turtlegirl5
Summary: Madoka and Homura are excited to spend the evening together at Mitakihara Middle School's spring fair, and discover feelings they've both long suspected to be true.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hermionesqueen (hermionesqueen)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermionesqueen/gifts).



     Madoka climbed up the steps to Homura’s house and knocked on her front door. Tonight was Mitakihara Middle School’s annual springtime fair, and Homura was excited to go. The door opened, and Madoka greeted her friend with a smile. 

     “Hey, Homura! You ready to go?”

     “Mhm!” Homura smiled. She’d left her hair loose, but she was still wearing her cute red glasses and a hair ribbon Madoka had given her to match. She had on a pretty white sundress, lavender tights, and black saddle shoes. 

     “Wow, you look lovely.” Madoka said. At this, Homura dropped her gaze to her shoes, and Madoka thought she saw her cheeks pinken slightly.

     “Thank you. You look nice as well, Madoka.” 

     “Thanks.” She tucked a loose scrap of hair behind her ear. It had taken weeks of friendship for Homura to use her first name instead of “Miss Kaname”. Madoka liked this better. “Madoka” was much friendlier and more familiar. 

     It was the first warm night of the year, and Madoka could finally get away with wearing a pink T-shirt, a red polka dotted skirt, and tennis shoes. But it was only the fifth night of spring, and her father had made her at least bring a light coat. Homura buttoned up her western-style denim jacket and followed Madoka down the porch stairs. 

     It wasn’t a long walk to the school grounds, and they passed the time chatting about all the fun things they would do at the fair. Once at the line for the gate, they were waved over by two of their friends. 

     “Hey, guys!” Sayaka called. 

     “Hey,” Madoka greeted her and Kyouko. “Where’s Mami?”

     “She said she might come later. She’s babysitting tonight.” Sayaka replied. Hey, Homura. How’ve you been?”

     “I’m good. How have you been?” She asked.

     “I’ve been pretty good. Did you guys get back your math tests yet?”

     “Yeah,” Madoka said glumly. “I only got a B-”

     “That test was rough.” Sayaka sympathized. “I just barely scraped a B.”

     “Nerd.” Kyouko teased.

     “You didn’t even show up for the test! You were absent the whole day!”

     “I had a stomachache.” She shrugged.

     “Gee, I wonder why.” 

     Madoka and Homura exchanged muted grins and Kyouko feigned defensiveness. They showed their school IDs to the man at the front, got their hands stamped, and walked through the gates. 

     “So what do you wanna do first?” Sayaka asked.

     “Let’s go hit up some of the games.” said Kyouko.

     “You make it sound like we’re robbing the place.”

     “Oh, come on. I’ll win you a stuffed animal. It’ll be fun!”

     “You’re such a dork.” Sayaka sighed.

     “You didn’t say no.”

     “Maybe we should do something as a group first, since we're all here.” Madoka suggested.

     “They have a nail station.” Offered Sayaka.

     “Sound good, I guess.” Kyouko agreed. “Homura, what do you wanna do?”

     “Y-yeah, that sounds like fun!” 

     “Okay, let’s go there first!” Madoka declared. She and Homura led the way, with Sayaka and Kyouko trailing behind. 

     “What are we going to do while our nails dry?” Kyouko asked.

     “They should have fans so our nails can dry quickly. My mom says it’s impossible to get anything done with wet fingernails, and anyone who’s painting our nails will know that.”

     “That’s true.” Sayaka agreed. “Kyouko and I were going to get food and then go check out the obstacle course.”

     “That sounds like fun.” Madoka said.

     The line for nail art was surprisingly short. Homura guessed that anyone who wanted their nails done was waiting until the end of the fair. Just as Madoka had said, the artists had heated nail fans to dry them quicker. It took about 15 minutes for everybody to be finished. They spent the whole time talking about school, how their teacher’s new relationship was going, what Madoka’s little brother was up to; it felt like they were adults gossiping at a nail salon. By the time they were done, Sayaka’s nails were a deep, sparkly blue, and the tips were edged with gold. Kyouko’s were crimson and flecked with black. Madoka had chosen shimmery, frosty pink for every nail but her ring fingers, which were yellow and twinkling with iridescent glitter. Homura’s alternated between lavender and dark purple. The lavender ones were painted over with a layer of white glitter, and the dark purple with gold. She quite liked the effect. 

    Once they left, Sayaka and Kyouko wandered off to the concession stands, and Madoka and Homura traipsed over to the carnival games. Madoka gasped and pointed at a very large stuffed cat.

     “Homura, look! It’s so cute!” She exclaimed, seizing her friend’s arm.

     “It sure is,” the man behind the booth agreed, “it’s our grand prize. All you have to do is pop 25 balloons in a row, and you win!”

     Madoka peered behind the man at the balloon setup, and her face fell. These weren’t even regular balloons; they were tiny little water balloons filled with air. Her aim was decent, but it was doubtful she’d be able to make 25 direct hits in a row just yet. The most darts you could buy at a time were 25. Even she wasn’t good enough to not miss a single one. It didn’t look like she’d be able to win.

     “I’ll try it.” Homura said, laying her money on the table. The man nodded, put her money in the cash box, and set down 25 darts.

     “Are you sure?” Madoka asked. Homura nodded in reply. She picked up the first dart, took a deep breath, and focused on her target. She narrowed her eyes and let the dart fly with a flick of her wrist. It zoomed out, striking the balloon just in the center of the board. Grinning briefly, she picked up the second dart and did the same. Again, she hit her target just above the last balloon. Soon she’d popped 4 in a row, then 8 then 10. She kept her focus solidly ahead of her, not bothering to note the man’s surprise or Madoka’s hushed excitement. She made it to 12 (almost halfway there!) then 15, then 20. She’d saved the bottom row for last. It was the easiest. So easy, in fact, that she’d already accidentally popped one instead of the balloon above it. All that remained were 4 balloons in the lowest row, and the one she’d missed. She zoned in on the leftmost one and let her dart fly. The miniature balloon burst on impact. So did the other three. Finally, only one remained. Homura bit her lip, took a steadying breath, narrowed her eyes, and shot. 

      The balloon popped, the sound drowned out by her Madoka’s cheer of excitement. Homura beamed proudly, accepting the stuffed cat from the very impressed carnival worker, and turned to Madoka.

     “Homura, that was amazing!” Madoka cried, flinging her arms around her. Homura’s heart thudded in her chest, and she hugged Madoka back. 

     “Here,” she said, offering the cat, “it’s for you.” 

     “Are you sure?”

     “Yeah, I, um, I- I won it for you.”

     Madoka beamed and pressed her hands to her mouth. “Really?”

     “Yeah.” A blush was definitely creeping up her cheeks by now. Madoka looked so cute when she was happy. 

     “That’s so sweet, Homura! Thank you!” She hugged her once more before accepting the stuffed animal.

    “You said you wanted it.” Homura mumbled, pleased but embarrassed. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, still smiling at her feet. Madoka hugged her stuffed cat tight, still beaming at her friend. She looked around the game booths and suggested they play some of those.

     They spent the better part of the next 30 minutes playing skeeball, balloon darts, and basketball hoops. On their way to the concessions,  they finally ran into Mami, who seemed to be chaperoning a little white-haired girl they only knew from pictures. 

     “Mami!” Madoka called out, waving to get her attention.    
     “Madoka, Homura! Hey!” She greeted, waving back. They edged their way around a crowd of classmates to get closer.

     “How are you enjoying the fair?” Madoka asked when she and Homura reached them. 

     “Oh, it’s great! We’re on our way to the carousel right now. This is Nagisa, by the way.” She said, indicating the little girl.

     “Hello, Nagisa.” Madoka smiled at her.

     “Hello. I won a cake!” She announced, holding up the cheesecake that was in her arms. 

     “Yes, we went to the cake walk.” Mami said, smiling fondly at the little girl. “Nagisa’s mom said she’d let me take her to the school fair tonight so I wouldn’t miss it.” 

     “Oh, that’s nice! I’m glad you guys are having fun.”

     “Yeah, the committee put a lot of work into this. What about you two, are you having fun?”

     “Mhm!” they said, nodding.

     “Where are Sayaka and Kyouko?”

     “We met up with them at the start of the fair, but I’m not sure where they are now. We’re on our way to go and get snacks.” 

     “Mami, can we do face paints?” Nagisa asked, tugging on her sleeve. Mami looked down at her.

     “Sure, do you know what you want to get?”

     “Umm… a cheese!”

     “A cheese?”

     “Uh huh!”

     “I suppose we can do that.” She said amusedly. “Do you want to go now or after the carousel?” 

     “After! No, now.”

     “Are you sure?”

     “Uh huh!”

     “Okay, well the face painting booth is over there--”

     “Will you get a cheese too?”

     “I might not get a cheese, but I can get my face painted with you.”

     “Yay!” Nagisa cheered.

     “Okay then.” She turned to her friends. “Well I’ve got to go. See you later, guys!”

     “Bye!”

     “See you!”

     Mami took Nagisa’s free hand and led her through the crowds towards the face painting booth.

     “So that’s the girl Miss Tomoe babysits?”

     “Yeah, Mami treats her like a daughter.”

     “She’s very cute.”

     “Yeah, Mami thinks so too. She says it’s a little stressful trying to take care of her all the time when her mother can’t, but she definitely seems a lot happier now that she has Nagisa.”

     Homura nodded in agreement. She hadn’t known Miss Tomoe long, but she did seem to have a rather parental relationship with the little girl. 

     The two of them made their way to the concession stands and Madoka asked Homura what she wanted to eat. 

     “You don’t have to do that!” She said as Madoka pulled out her wallet.

     “You won me a stuffed animal.” Madoka reminded her, giving her cat a one-armed squeeze. “It’s the least I can do.” 

     “I… well… okay…” 

     “What do you want? Cotton candy sounds good.”

     “Yeah” 

     “Do you want anything else? Really, I don’t mind paying. You’re my friend.” She said with a genuine smile. Homura suddenly felt as if she were standing underneath a heat lamp.

     “How about popcorn?” She asked.

     “S-sure, that sounds good.”

     “Alright.” Madoka bought 2 sodas, a blue and pink cotton candy, and a medium popcorn for them to split. Homura took the blue cotton candy, and they sat at a picnic table, talking and watching the crowds.

     “I’m really glad you came with me, Homura.” 

     “Me too! I’m having a lot of fun. Um, thank you for inviting me.”

     “Of course!” Like I said, I’m happy you’re here.”

     Homura smiled into her soda as she took a sip. 

     “It was so cool how you got all of those balloons on your first try! I could never do something like that.”

     “Oh course you could! Your aim is amazing-- I’ve seen you in dodgeball.

     “Yeah, but I still miss sometimes.” 

     “I think you could have made it.” She paused, wondering if what she wanted to say was out of line or not. She decided to risk it. “You… you should have more confidence in yourself, Madoka. You’re a lot more impressive than you think.”

     Madoka was silent for a moment, and Homura was worried she’d overstepped her bounds before she spoke again.

     “Thank you, Homura. People don’t usually say things like that to me. I dunno, I just feel like I can’t really do anything right, you know? I feel like I’m completely average.” She said as she pulled off a chunk of cotton candy. 

     “That’s not true! You’re amazing! You even gave someone like me a chance at friendship. You’re--”

     “But you say that like someone who doesn’t deserve friendship. You’re an incredible person, Homura. You’re selfless and brave and smart; I couldn’t have asked for a better friend!”

     “You… do you really mean that?” Homura asked. She could believe that Madoka would say such nice things, even to her, but it was hard to believe that anyone would mean them.

     “Of course I do!”

     Homura paused. “Thank you, Madoka.” She said quietly. Madoka liked her… she truly did. Homura couldn’t help the grin that sprang to her face. Having friends like this… Mami was right; it was the most wonderful feeling in the world. Madoka returned her smile in equal measure.

     “So what do you want to do after this?” She asked.

     “I dunno, I was thinking the ferris wheel, but I want to go there after it’s darker so we can see all of the lights.” 

     “That’s a good idea. Hey, do you want to go to the face painting booth? That could be fun.”

     “Yeah!” Homura giggled.

     “Maybe- maybe after that, we could go to the photo booth and get our pictures taken?”

     Homura grinned. “I’d love that!” 

     “Okay!”

     Madoka reached over to grab some popcorn at the same time Homura did. Their hands brushed and Homura felt her heart thud in her chest. She jerked her hand back after half a moment, and Madoka did the same.

     “Sorry,” They said in unison, then laughed. Madoka let Homura go first. She quickly took a handful of popcorn and nibbled on it, wishing her heart would stop fluttering. They had just touched hands, after all. 

     They ate their snacks in comfortable silence as they looked around.

     “So how have you liked school this year?” Madoka asked. Homura turned her attention back to Madoka. 

     “Oh! Um, I liked it a lot. It was great getting to meet you and everyone else.” 

     “I’m so glad to have met you too, Homura!” She said, beaming.

     “Thanks.” She smiled down at her clasped hands.

     “Really! I am.” She reached over and covered Homura’s hands with hers. “I meant what I said. You really are the best friend I could have asked for.” 

     “So are you.” She murmured.

     Homura stared at Madoka’s hands, still covering hers. Seized by an almost uncharacteristic daring, she slowly started to unclasp her hands, instead lacing the fingers of her left hand with Madoka’s. Her fluttering heart, which would have been a problem last year, was thankfully healthy again, jittering madly and terrifiedly in her chest. Madoka twitched her fingers tighter by just a hair, and Homura felt her face relax into a euphoric smile. This was really happening. Madoka was really holding her hand. Neither of them looked at each other, instead staring intently at their hands, as if watching something magic happening. Madoka’s eyes betrayed her, flickering upwards to catch the incredulous look on Homura’s face. They should leave soon if they wanted to explore the fair, but she wanted to keep holding Homura’s hand. There was something comforting about it that she couldn’t explain. Was it normal to want to hold her best friend’s hand so much? Could it be that Homura possibly felt the same way she did?

     “Come on,” she said eventually, tearing herself away from her friend’s face, “we should check out everything else they have and get our faces painted.”

     They threw away their cones and empty popcorn bucket and headed for the face painting booth. It wasn’t far. 

     “Evening, dears! What would you like?” Asked the friendly 20-something young woman heading the booth when they got through the line. They’d had almost five full minutes of waiting to decide on what they wanted, and sat patiently in their chairs while the two older women worked, gossiping about affairs the two girls didn’t have a reference for, but nevertheless found interesting. Next to Madoka, a young man roughly the same age as the first woman joined in, maintaining an impressive amount of focus on the butterfly he was painting while interjecting snippets about what their coworker Miyuki was doing that night. The kind-faced middle aged lady painting a rainbow on Homura’s cheek was brushing glitter onto the wet paint as Madoka admired her cat nose and whiskers.    
     When they were all set, they thanked the women and hurried off to the empty photo booth. The sun, already setting when they arrived, had long since disappeared beneath the horizon, and the trees stood out black against the ever-darkening sky. The bright carnival lights sparkled even more prominently, and Madoka wanted nothing more than to hold Homura’s hand as they walked. They had thrown both of their sodas away in line for the face painting booth, and she could hold her stuffed cat with just one arm.

     No. Homura was her friend. Sure, friends could hold hands and snuggle platonically, but… Madoka had been suspecting for weeks that she liked Homura as something other than a friend. She reminded herself firmly that Homura did not need her best friend admitting she had a crush on her. She was nervous enough already. Some hopeful part of her thought that maybe there was a chance that Homura felt the same way, reflecting on what had happened just ten minutes ago, but she was determined not to do anything that might make Homura uncomfortable, just in case. 

     Homura was having a similar dilemma as they made their way to the photo booth. Madoka was her best friend. She wasn’t going to do anything to ruin that. No matter how pretty she looked or how much she wanted to hold her hand again. She would just have keep her feelings a secret.

     The inside of the photo booth was well-lit, and there was enough room for 2 people to comfortably sit on the metal bench. They each put in 2 quarters, and posted for the first picture smiling side by side. In the second picture, Madoka instinctively put her arm around Homura. She did the same, their cheeks almost touching. Both girls were grinning from ear to ear. Madoka stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes for the third picture and Homura puffed out her cheeks. The last photograph was them laughing. When the 2 photo strips had been printed out, they walked together to the ferris wheel. It was the end of the night, and the line was long. Madoka wondered if they’d be able to even get on the ride before the fair closed at 10:00. 

    “Hey, Madoka! Homura! Over here!”

     They looked towards the front of the line and saw Kyouko, Sayaka, and Hitomi frantically waving them over. Madoka and Homura stepped out of line and hurried over to join their friends. Once they’d neared the front, they saw Mami was with them. 

     “Nagisa was getting tired, so I took her home and came back.” She explained. She had a sparkly little butterfly painted on her right cheek. Sayaka had a glittering cherry blossom, and Hitomi a pair of cherries. Kyouko appeared to be the only one who hadn’t gotten her face painted. 

    “What did you guys do tonight?” Madoka asked.

     “ Well we went to the obstacle course,” Sayaka started, “then we went to the bounce house, but it was only for little kids, so I made Kyouko come with me to get our faces painted, and we ran into Hitomi, so then the three of us went to the cake walk but we didn’t win anything, so then we went to the games and Hitomi turned out to be pretty good at skeeball. We kinda lost track of time there, and we wanted to see what you guys were up to, so we went looking for you--”

     “But we still couldn’t find you.” Kyouko interjected through a mouthful of popcorn. “So we decided to save you a spot in line, since you said you were going to come here last.”

     “We’ve been letting groups of people cut in front of us for the last five minutes because we didn’t wanna miss you guys.” Sayaka said. “About 2 minutes ago, we say Mami waiting in line and waved  _ her _ over, but I’m glad you’re finally here too!”

     “So are we” Madoka agreed. “Thank you so much for saving us a spot!”

     “No problem! Ooh, I think we’re next!” She exclaimed as the last passengers finished disembarking. Mami checked her watch.

     “It’s only 9:30, we’ll still have plenty of time even if we don’t get to go this round.”

     “That’s good.” Said Madoka.

     However, the six of them ended up being the last ones to board. 

     Madoka could feel excitement in the pit of her stomach as the ferris wheel began to move, but as they climbed higher, she involuntarily clutched onto Homura’s arm. She didn’t mind heights, but it was still a little scary being so far away from the ground. Homura reached over with her other arm and clumsily patted Madoka’s shoulder. 

     “Sorry,” she apologized, letting go embarrassedly.

     “No, it’s okay. Here--” Homura put her arm around Madoka’s shoulders instead. Madoka leaned in close to her friend, letting their heads rest together, both of their hearts thrumming in their chests in a way that had nothing to do with the height.

     Madoka spent the 3 turns looking out at the field’s carnival lights, over at the faint view of town, and up at the stars… all the while feeling safe snuggled up next to Homura. 

     When at last they got down from the ride and the conductor gave Madoka her stuffed cat back, they spent the rest of the carnival walking around, chatting animatedly about the night. Eventually, the clock struck ten, and everyone was shooed out of the fair grounds. They passed their homeroom teacher out with her boyfriend of the last 3 months, hugging each other by the side as they walked, and Madoka suddenly wished they’d never left the ferris wheel.

     “H-Homura?” She asked uncertainly, not sure if she should ask what she wanted to. 

     “Hmm?”

     “Can I hold your hand again?” She spoke to her feet, embarrassed by her request. To her surprise and joy, Homura quietly slipped her hand into Madoka’s. She twitched her fingers closed around Homura’s and darted a glance at her before looking back at her feet, smiling and blushing. Their friends were all too busy whooping and talking to notice the two of them trailing behind, their fingers laced together as they beamed, still too pink to meet each other’s gaze. 

     When Sayaka glanced back at them to make sure they hadn’t been lost, she noticed them holding hands and gave a small smile of approval before returning to her conversation with Hitomi. 

     Madoka and Homura said goodnight to the others at the crosswalk and walked together to Homura’s house. 

     “I had a wonderful time with you tonight, Homura.” Madoka said, smiling.

     “Me too.” She replied somewhat awkwardly, unsure of what else to say. She squeezed Madoka’s hand, trying to communicate everything she felt. Madoka squeezed back, possibly thinking the same thing. The weight of what they wanted to say hung in the air between them, unnoticed by the other. 

     “...Madoka?” Homura asked as the two of them walked. 

     “Hmm?” Madoka looked up at her curiously. 

     “I…” Homura stopped walking. Madoka followed suit, still waiting for her to speak.

     “What is it, Homura?” She asked kindly after a moment of silence. Homura’s courage failed her and she shook her head.

     “Nothing.” 

     “Are you sure?”

     She nodded. 

     “Homura, you can tell me.”

     “I just… I just wanted to say that you’re a very important person to me, Madoka.”

     “You’re a very important person to me too, Homura.”

     Homura blinked and looked down at her shoes. “I-I love you.” She murmured nervously. Silence followed, and for the second time that night, Homura was scared that she had said something she shouldn’t have.

     “I love you, too.” Madoka whispered. Homura looked up to see that Madoka was staring at the ground, too. She raised her gaze to meet Homura’s and smiled. “I love you.” She repeated, as if the words were a relief to say out loud.

     “You do?” She asked incredulously.

     “Of course I do!” She stepped forward, still holding Homura’s hand and hugging the stuffed cat she had won her closer to her chest. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had!”

     Homura tried to ignore the small part of her heart that was sinking. Madoka didn’t mean the same thing that she did. But Madoka was again looking down at the ground, screwing up her courage to say something else. 

     “I love you as something other than a friend, though.” She admitted. “Is that wrong?”

     Homura’s heart rose so fast she felt dizzy. 

     “No, I- I love you the same way, Madoka.”

     “You do?” Her eyes were wide with hope and disbelief.

     “Yes.” Homura said, beaming as the two of them stood hand in hand beneath the streetlamp, shining like a spotlight on them both. 

     They stayed there for a moment, smiles shining brighter than the sun, before continuing on their path back to Homura’s house. 

**Author's Note:**

> Made for my friend's 15th birthday! I hope you enjoy it <3


End file.
